Local band The Northbloods played in front of a hometown crowd for the first time at this year’s Bear Creek Folk Festival. Lead Singer Zachary Kay says that so far Bear Creek has been one of the best festivals he’s ever played at because they treat the musicians like people.
“As a musician, this festival is one of the best festivals because they make sure that the musicians are having a good time as well. There are some festivals out there that kind of treat the musicians like cattle and once you play they herd you off but here they kind of welcome you to stay the whole weekend.”
The band formed three years ago in Grande Prairie and are made up of Kay, guitar and bass player Nelson Horneland, Drummer Dave Oostra and bass and guitar player Riley Morrison.
Horneland says that the unique part about performing at Bear Creek was the artist workshops where they were able to go on stage with other musicians and help play each other’s songs.
“The workshops are such a fantastic idea because you get to play with so many different musicians and sometimes they add a little something to your music that you’re like oh ya that sounded really nice. Maybe we need that.”
The band has been touring all summer playing other festivals around the area like Grizfest in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. and North country Fair in Driftpile Valley, A.B. Kay says he likes playing shows and festivals because it’s rewarding to see how much fun the fans have.
“We’ve been told that our live performances are just really fun and people say that it looks like we have a lot of fun because we do. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing people clapping their hands and stomping their feet and nodding along.”
Bear Creek was The Northbloods’ last festival of the summer before heading into the studio to record in September.